Research fellowships on brain cancer cell communication, self-determined tourism and plant stress tolerance

Research fellowships

ON BRAIN CANCER CELL COMMUNICATION, SELF-DETERMINED TOURISM AND PLANT STRESS TOLERANCE

WE AWARDED THREE ESTABLISHED RESEARCHERS WHO HAVE DEMONSTRATED SUSTAINED RESEARCH EXCELLENCE WITH PRESTIGIOUS JAMES COOK RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS IN 2020. THESE PROVIDE FUNDING FROM THE GOVERNMENT TO ALLOW THEM TO UNDERTAKE STUDY OR RESEARCH IN THEIR FIELD OF ENDEAVOUR FOR TWO YEARS.

Dr Kevin Davies, Plant & Food Research, will work to understand the origin and current diversity of the metabolic stress-tolerance system of land plants. His hypothesis is that plants called hornworts are unique among land plants in that they lack the ability to produce protective metabolites called flavonoids. He will establish the physiological, metabolic and genetic status of the flavonoid pathway in hornworts to establish their vulnerability to environmental change.

Professor Regina Scheyvens, Massey University, will explore ways of achieving sustainable, selfdetermined tourism that supports Indigenous wellbeing in the Pacific region. The impact of COVID-19 on the tourism sector provides a unique opportunity to rethink how tourism can more sustainably benefit Aotearoa and the Pacific. She will analyse the policies and strategies being developed in response to the crisis, hold widespread discussions/kōrero/ talanoa with affected people and, on the basis of these, re-imagine tourism using Indigenous voices and concepts.

Associate Professor Charles Unsworth, University of Auckland, seeks to understand communication pathways in the brain that can lead to GlioBlastoma Multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive and lethal primary brain cancer in adults. He will study the relationship between calcium ion-channels, changed calcium communication in the brain, and how this can trigger the transformation of normal cells into cancerous ones in GBM tumours. He will leverage his research group’s transformative silicon brain-on-chip technology to map calcium channel communication and determine how GBM cancer talks at the network level. His research may discover new therapeutic strategies and approaches for treatment of GBM.

VIEW MORE ON THE 2020 JAMES COOK RESEARCH FELLOWS

bit.ly/2020HL-62